Timber, Noon, 104th Day.

The past few days flew by without incident. Jay fell back into his usual routine, hanging from the ship’s painted envelope while doing his morning exercises and chatting to his plants. He has also become a regular at the logger’s tables in the evening and seems to get along well with a few of them, but always returns to the ship afterwards. Blendin spent much of his freetime beyond the treeline. A few of the loggers pointed him towards nearby wildling encampments, but each time he arrives at one, the location is vacated, probably only moments before his arrival. Tooly has finished repairs on the drive rod and now is well underway repairing the gear locking mechanism its on schedule, but he has some plans to help the final alignment process go faster. Gardner and Renault have struck a deal to cover these repairs. He will take 1000 off your cash payment of 15000, in exchange for sealing the swoose and three altitude suits, all paid in advance. The swoose’s hull smells like honey and pine, but otherwise looks as it always did – the orcish runes are still visible beneath the coating.

The four dwarves, which you now realize are all women thanks to Tooly’s snide remarks on the subject, have given you a wide berth. You often have seen them on the pier or leaving Renault’s offices, but they have not joined you at the Sleepy Fog Shark since the first evening. In addition to those you met in the bar, a beardless blonde with tightly cropped hair is often seen poking about her vessel but never far from the ironclad ship. The boat is smaller than the swoose, bears 4 bronze cannon, and belches smoke from three darkened stacks even while tied to the pier.

The new bronze tools are already being used to clear trees, and fresh logs are piling up outside both mills, waiting to be sawn into planks. A small guard of off duty loggers has been stationed on the pier to protect against looting, and you assume against violence between the dwarves and yourselves.

You have all joined each other aboard ship for a group meal. Gertie has brought you a lunch of sorts: heels of yesterday’s bread and a mushroom broth sauce, along with two skins of fresh water. Renault arrives with 4 men, carryings two small chests of newly sawn wood. He boards without asking permission and joins you under the envelope. He has the men set the chests down on the deck. “Well gentlemen. Here is the remainder of our payment. I have counted it, and find it to be correct, but will of course understand if you wish to do the same. When you are satisfied, we will offload our remaining goods and load those barrels of iceseal.” He motions, and the men open their chests. Inside is neatly stacked rows of blue and red paper, crisp and bundled, each bearing the seal of the trade council.

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ooc: I have updated your character sheets based on your advances. Each of you now owns an altitude suit, and your ship is painted with iceseal.

Paper TC writs are not uncommon but are far less desirable than cogs. They tend to be used by settlements too small to have their own secure banks and instead keep their funds in the coffers of the TC itself. They provide a degree of security to these islands, as they bear no inherent value and can be destroyed and manufactured at need. Counterfeiting is a concern, but legitimate TC writs are marked using some sort of magical seal, like that used by the Magistrate to sign your contract. These bear marks that look legitimate to you. TC writs can be exchanged for cogs at any TC outpost, assuming that the account in question has cogs to pay out, and the TC has cogs on hand to make the payment good. They may also be transferred in trade, but for the reasons listed above are less desirable.